Ronda Rousey makes her way to the ring and WWE shows Ronda being announced for the UFC Hall Of Fame, with Tweets from Superstars and media outlets. Ronda takes a seat in the ring and The Coach introduces the Women’s Champion, Nia Jax.
Coach asks about this friendly rivalry being filled with tension. Jax says they’re both competitive athletes. When it comes to who is better, it gets intense. Jax admits that she pushed Rousey’s buttons. She’s beautiful and has a stellar reputation, but she’s still very new in the WWE. Rousey’s success came from elsewhere, like Strikeforce and the UFC. There’s things you can’t do in UFC that you can do in WWE, like head-butts, strikes to the spine, and 12-6 elbows. Jax will show her on Sunday. Rousey says she doesn’t game plan – she improvises. On Sunday, she’ll improvise her arm off. Coach says she’s confident for someone that has had one match. Rousey says she’s earned that confidence. Jax says she’s been here for years grinding. Rousey wants to take her arm, but Jax will take her reputation. Jax challenged her because she knows she’ll beat her. Rousey just isn’t ready.
Rousey stands up and says everyone said she wouldn’t make the Olympic team at 17, but she did. They said she couldn’t challenge for the Strikeforce Title after four fights, but she did and won. They said she couldn’t main event her own card, but she broke records. A lot of people said she couldn’t be UFC Champion, but she’s going into the Hall of Fame. Rousey yells, “I am Ronda Rousey, and I was born ready!” They go face-to-face and the crowd fires-up. Jax goes to hit her, but Rousey blocks it. Jax then head-butts her down. Jax teases her for a few before Rousey goes for an arm bar. Jax tries to fight it, but Rousey keeps trying and gets Jax to tap out. Rousey then walks off smiling. A good segment from both women but particularly great mic work from Nia.
Out Fatal 4-Way main event is still to come. We see Curt Hawkins standing backstage, and No Way Jose dances past with his entourage.
*Commercial Break*
Jose comes to the ring but Hawkins’ music plays and he doesn’t appear. His music plays again but still no sign of him…
No Way Jose Vs. Curt Hawkins
Hawkins, dressed as one of Jose’s dancers, slides in and rolls him up for a near fall. Jose then hits a Knockout Punch to continue the great losing streak.
Winner: No Way Jose
We see Finn Balor walking backstage. He runs into Bobby Roode and they talk about Kevin Owens’ plan. Balor says he doesn’t trust Owens but maybe it’s better the devil you know than the monster among men. Roode says they should go with KO’s plan but keep an eye on him, to which Balor says he’ll keep an eye on Owens, and the other on Roode.
We see staff bringing down plywood and such for a physical test that Sami Zayn has planned for Bobby Lashley. We get a commercial for the Special Olympics before heading to the break.
*Commercial Break*
We return from the break and out comes Sami Zayn is typical extravagant fashion.
Renee Young introduces Sami Zayn. She asks why he challenged Bobby Lashley to an obstacle course. Zayn asked a simple question if Lashley was really in the Army. Zayn says he got booed loudly (he didn’t). Since he can’t verify the legitimacy, he challenged him to an obstacle course. If Lashley can beat him in the obstacle course, he’ll believe him. They’ll do a tire flip, a low crawl, a wall vault, monkey bars (or horizontal ladder), and a rope climb. Zayn will dedicate his victory to the country with the real greatest military force on earth, Canada.
Bobby Lashley comes and Renee asks him about the challenge. Lashley says everyone is tired of Zayn’s mouth. Lashley will beat him at this obstacle course and he’ll beat his “butt” this weekend. Renee performs a coin toss to see who goes first and Lashley is the loser. They have a timer on the big screen with a picture of Sergeant Slaughter, which gets a cheer. Lashley runs the course with ease: finishing in 43 seconds. As soon as he climbs down the rope however, Zayn attacks him from behind and hits a Helluva Kick. Referees run down to pull Zayn off. Zayn walks off jauntingly and laughs. Lashley struggles to his feet. These two will meet on Sunday and I think we can all predict a bad night for Sami.
Kevin Owens, Bobby Roode, and Finn Balor are talking backstage. Braun Strowman comes up to them and suggests they all team up on him. Strowman laughs and then scares them with a scream before walking off.
*Commercial Break*
We get entrances for all four men in the match.
Fatal 4-Way Match
Bobby Roode vs. Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens vs. Braun Strowman
The bell rings, and Strowamn gets the better of them all, including throwing Roode across the ring and clubbing Balor down. Strowman head-butts Owens and sends him into the ropes, but Owens gets out of the ring. Strowman is firmly in control of all four as we head to the break!
*Commercial Break*
We come back from the break to see Roode, Owens, and Balor getting on the apron around Strowman. They get in and triple-team Strowman. They have him in the corner and stomp away at him. Strowman makes a comeback and follows them outside. They try to attack, but he explodes out of the group. Owens tries to run to the back, but Strowman chases him.
Braun sends Owens flying on the stage. Strowman head-butts him, then big boots Balor, and punches Roode down. Strowman sends Owens into the LED stage screens, which glitch-out, and clears off the commentary table. Strowman scoops up Owens, but Roode hits Strowman with a ladder. Balor and Roode hit Strowman with the ladder and lay him on the table. Owens sets up a ladder and tells Balor and Roode to hold it. Owens goes to the top of the ladder and leaps onto Strowman with a frog splash through the table! Wow!
*Commercial Break*
We come back from the break to see Roode applying an arm bar to Balor. Strowman and Owens are still down near the commentary table. Replays are shown of the impressive frog splash. Roode continues to work on the arm. Balor fights up from an arm bar, but Roode quickly yanks the arm. Roode elbows him, but Balor takes him down with an overhead kick. A picture-in-picture commercial is shown for Nia Jax vs. Ronda Rousey. Back in the ring, Balor takes Roode down with a Sling Blade and a double stomp to the midsection. Balor chops the chest and sends him to the corner, but Roode boots him. Roode goes to the top rope, but Balor knocks him off to the floor. Balor charges, but Roode forearms him. Roode comes off the second rope with a blockbuster for a near fall. Balor comes back with a second Sling Blade and a dropkick into the corner. Balor goes to the top rope, but Owens knocks him off. Balor then knocks Owens off the top rope. Balor goes to the top, but Roode crotches him up there. Roode goes for a superplex, but Owens comes in and does the Tower of Doom.
We cut over to the announce table, where Braun Strowman gets to his feet to a big reception. Owens looks terrified in the corner. Strowman hobbles down the ramp and clobbers Balor with a forearm before big booting Roode down. Strowman then angrily looks at Owens. Strowman gets in the ring, and Owens gets out. Owens runs through the crowd, but Strowman chases. Owens slips, and Strowman drags him to ringside to club him down. Strowman then runs around the ring shoulder blocking Balor, Roode, and then turning Owens inside out on the floor!
Strowman avalanches Owens and Roode in the corner. Balor quickly attacks him and comes off the top rope with a double stomp to the back of the head. Balor charges, but Strowman shoulder blocks him down. Strowman scoops up Balor, but Owens superkicks him. Roode chop blocks him, and Owens superkicks him. Owens then rolls Roode up for a near fall. Roode hits a spinebuster, and Balor hits a falling elbow drop. Balor then hits Strowman with a Sling Blade. Balor dropkicks Strowman into the corner, goes up top, hits the Coup de Grace on Strowman, but Roode breaks it up. Roode sends Balor spine-first into the ring post. Roode hits a Glorious DDT on Strowman, but Owens breaks it up and sends Roode out of the ring. Owens goes to the top rope and hits a frog splash on Strowman for a near fall! Owens can’t believe it, he’s fighting Jason Vorhees.
Owens leaves the ring and grabs a ladder from under the ring. Owens hits him in the ribs, but Strowman stays on his feet. Owens hits him again, but Strowman just gets angrier. Strowman blocks a third and grabs him by the throat for a chokeslam. Strowman lays down the ladder in the middle of the ring. Strowman hits a Running Powerslam onto the ladder for the win!
Winner: Braun STROWMAN
The announcers talk-up Strowman’s potential to win the MITB ladder match this Sunday. Strowman poses to end the show.
That’s it for tonight’s Raw. Let us know what you thought of the show and come back tomorrow for SmackDown Live, then again on Saturday for NXT TakeOver!
